1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to air conditioning systems, and particularly to an air conditioning system used in a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Air conditioning systems (A/C systems) are well known in the art, operating on the principle of evaporation and condensation to provide cooled air in indoor areas, including vehicle interiors.
Often, vehicle A/C systems can be manually switched between a ventilation mode, in which an inside air inlet is closed and an outside air inlet opened, drawing fresh air into the interior of the vehicle, and recirculation mode, in which the inside air inlet is opened and the outside inlet closed, recirculating air within the interior of the vehicle.
However, in city driving, exterior air quality is often poor, especially in conditions of heavy traffic. If ventilation mode is utilized, air introduced to the vehicle interior can easily contain numerous contaminants such as vehicle exhaust emissions. While the emissions can be routed through a filtering system, net effect is often less than ideal, resulting in an unpleasant environment being created inside the vehicle.
Thus, an air conditioning system providing reliable exclusion of exhaust emission from other vehicles or the user's vehicle, a method of operating the system, and a vehicle using the air conditioning system, are desired.